Stephen Palmer

I moved to Australia in 2013 and created this blog to help Irish people living in Australia. 10 million visitors later it now has evolved into a job board, flight company and offers support with many services Irish people need when they move to Australia.
Pop over to my resources page(irisharoundoz.com/resources) to find every service and product I recommend.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you here again.

Bonus tips – If you are claiming your super back and you need to transfer it from your Australian bank to your Irish/UK/Europe bank account, you will save a fortune by using any of the following money transfer companies: CurrencyFair, HiFx, OFX or Transferwise.

What if I am on a subclass 405 or a subclass 410 visa?

If the Temporary Resident visa that you held while you were in Australia was a subclass 405 (Investor Retirement) visa or a subclass 410 (Retirement) visa, you should contact the Australian Taxation Office to find out whether you can claim any superannuation benefits accrued during your time in Australia.

How do I know if I am eligible to claim my super back? What if I worked a lot of different jobs?

Superannuation is a mandatory, government-implemented scheme regardless of the job you do or your residency status. If you’re paying tax, you’re eligible for superannuation.

If you have worked in multiple jobs as many do on a working holiday visa, then you might be dealing with a few different companies if you do decide to claim any superannuation.

Yes, it can be an absolute nightmare to try and chase all of these down! I recommend using someone like Taxback.com as they can do everything for you!

So if you are unsure or just want some advice contact them here. Sometimes it is just not worth the hassle.

Can I just claim my superannuation(DASP) back myself without using an agency?

Great question. There are three main ways of claiming your superannuation back. With each way you will be able to claim your super back they are all as effective just depends on how much time or effort you have to do it.

Applications for Departing Australian Superannuation payment claims can either be lodged:

Through an agency such as TaxBack(I recommend them). Sure there are other options out there, but they were the experts back in 2013 when I first published this super guide and are even more experienced four years on.

How long does it take when claiming your superannuation back to get the money?

If you are claiming your superannuation back soon then likely you don’t care much about the finer details you just want to get your money in your bank account as fast as possible.

Processing times vary from person to person and the way you apply for you super back. Generally via an agency will be a bit faster than doing it yourself.

Generally, you will receive payment within 28 days, but this can easily vary up to 50+ days if there are issues with tracking down different PAYG payment summary’s

You also might get contacted by your Australian bank with an option to get credited directly into your Australian bank instead of getting a check and taking additional processing times.

If the bank does give you the option, I recommend taking it as you can just transfer the funds with CurrencyFair back to your Irish bank account and save yourself a lot of time and hassle.

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What if I am a permanent resident and want to claim my super back early?

For anyone with a Permanent visa and wanting to claim super back read this on the government website. Explains every option for “early release”. But I have heard that it is certainly not an easy task!

Tips for claiming back your superannuation from multiple employers:

If you were on a working holiday visa, you probably rocked up at a new job and just ticked the box saying deposit into their super fund or use the “default fund” each time.

After all, you don’t really care you just want to start working and earning some $$$’s.

The downside is when you go to claim your super back in a year or two you will have multiple superannuation fund and multiple companies.

So if you are reading this and are only arriving in Australia, then I recommend you get your own super fund and always keep things in that fund.

The way to resolve the issue of multiple superannuation funds is by basically, getting one of your funds to consolidate them all for you.

The one thing linked to all of these funds will be your tax file number.

If you register online for one of your super funds, they will usually have an option to consolidate all funds under your tax file number.

It’s as simple as clicking a button. If some funds in your name don’t include your TFN, obtain your account number from your previous employer and give these details to the super fund you want to consolidate into.

What if you arrive in Australia on a working holiday visa work for one year and move to a 457 visa for four years will my entire superannuation get taxed at 65%!?

This question just got sent in by one of our readers Tom and it will affect a few of you reading this.

I reached out to Taxback.comabout what options there are. As technically you should only be taxed at 65% on the working holiday visa portion as opposed the entire five years. This is what their expert said:

If the account was opened under a working holiday visa, then the Departing Australia Superannuation (DASP) refund will be taxed at working holiday visa rates, which means 65% will be withheld.

In this case it looks like the entire super refund will be taxed at 65% as the fund was opened on working holiday visa. This is a final withholding tax and can’t be refunded.

It doesn’t matter that they moved to another visa because if you ever held a working holiday subclass 417 or work and holiday subclass 462 or associated bridging visa and the DASP includes amounts attributable to super contributions made while you held this visa, then the DASP working holiday makers tax rate will apply.

Unfortunately we haven’t found any solutions to this and doubt the ATO will change the rules on this.

If anything changes regarding this top on claiming your superannuation back from a 417 to a 457 visa we will update this section asap.

Final points on claiming your superannuation back when leaving Australia:

While it can take 28 days to claim your super back, some refunds take longer because you may have multiple superannuation accounts, meaning it’s a little more work to locate all your funds.

Taxback.comexpect to get most refunds back, minus tax and our fee within 30 days.

It is entirely up to you if you decide to claim your superannuation back yourself or via a company. The main benefits of using a company are their previous experiences, and of course, it means there is less work for you.

The average superannuation refund with taxback.com is $1908 so claim it back today.

Stephen Palmer

I moved to Australia in 2013 and created this blog to help Irish people living in Australia. 10 million visitors later it now has evolved into a job board, flight company and offers support with many services Irish people need when they move to Australia.
Pop over to my resources page(irisharoundoz.com/resources) to find every service and product I recommend.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you here again.